Business Development Specialist at World Relief Rwanda (WRR)

VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

World Relief Rwanda (WRR) is an International Non-Government Organization whose mission is to boldly engage the world’s greatest crises in partnership with the church. WRR wishes to recruit a qualified and well experienced candidate to fill the position of Business Development Specialist. The job description and requirements are as follows:

PositionTitle: Business Development Specialist

PositionLocation: Kigali, Rwanda

Department/Division: Office of Country Director

JobTitle of Supervisor: Country Director

StartingDate: Immediately

Length of Opportunity: Open Ended Contract

Hoursperweek: Full time

Numberof PositionsOpen: 1

Organization summary:

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that is fighting for change that lasts, right in the U.S. and across the globe. We bring sustainable solutions to the world’s greatest problems – disasters, extreme poverty, violence, oppression, and mass displacement. The organization is 80 years old and has worked in over 100 countries around the world since its founding.

In the United States, we come alongside local churches, community organizations and hundreds of individual volunteers to support newly arriving refugee and other immigrant families. Today, we are proud to partner with over 6,000 local churches, and 95,000 volunteers globally to bring hope, healing and transformation to the most vulnerable.

General Function: 

Under the direct supervision of the Country Director, the Business Development Specialist will play a critical role in supporting World Relief's efforts to secure, maintain and grow a robust portfolio of publicly funded grants. He/she will have a responsibility to build and maintain relationships with public donors and grow World Relief Rwanda’s income in order to resource our country program strategy and ensure all projects are well-resourced. Additionally, He/she is responsible to strengthen existing partnerships and develop new ones with different stakeholders within the country.

Eligibility restricted to Rwandan candidates authorized to live and work in Rwanda.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Business Development: LOE 50%

• Lead the development & implementation of the Business Development Strategy, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and fulfillment of World Relief Rwanda strategic objectives.
• Lead the pre-positioning process to acquire new grants.
• Conducts landscape analyses, trends and intelligence to identify most strategic partnerships in USAID, EC and other donor markets with a focus on fostering local partnerships.
• Support technical teams to draft high quality positioning materials as necessary, including capability statements, impact briefs and fact sheets.
• Forge and lead donor relations at country and regional level; participate in calls with select donors, represent the WR at donor meetings as needed; and communicate relevant priorities to donors and internal WR units.
• Lead the tracking of donor, potential donor, and umbrella websites for RFAs and proposal submission opportunities aligned to WR's priority sectors or countries.
• Conduct background research on proposal opportunities to determine WR's competitiveness and strategic positioning.
• Represents WRR and works with Program staff to deliver pitches in partner calls and meetings related to funding opportunities.
• Maintain and grow intelligence-gathering network and ensure effective communication and collaboration between World Relief's longstanding Alliance partners, traditional collaborators, and others.

Proposal Development: LOE 30%

• Ensure that the proposal development process align with donor’s requirements.
• Ensure documentation and resources needed for proposal development are up to date and filed appropriately in the knowledge management system. Through capacity-training and mentorship, build a strong internal collaborative system for proposal development.
• Advise the Country Director and other senior management on capture planning, opportunity pursuit using the Go/No-Go Framework.
• Lead the technical teams, Finance and Program Officer in proposal ad budget development, and secure the necessary approval before submission.
• Drafts sections of concept notes and proposals and/or serve as a point of quality control for all proposals.
• Serve as the point person for WR Rwanda in any consortium proposals in which WR Rwanda is a sub-recipient.
• Build the capacity of other staff in key competency areas related to Business Development.
• Collaborate with technical teams and HR to identify and assess candidates for key personnel positions on proposals.
• Accountable for tracking the process from assignment (concept note, EOI, proposal development) to submission through business development tools & processes.

Partnerships and Country Office Visibility: LOE 20%

• Liaise with local and international donors and actively represent WR Rwanda at relevant national and local meetings with government officials, contractors, other NGOs, etc., reporting back as applicable to the Country Director and all concerned staff.
• Provide guidance to Programs Director and Partnership Directors on stakeholders to engage in relation to future opportunities.
• Support the country office to strengthen relationships with line ministries, RGBs, districts, and other same-minded organizations.
• Work with the communication lead to improve organization visibility and continuously guide on how to assess organization reputation and its improvement.
• Lead the creation of communication materials e.g. organizational and Programme profiles to increase visibility and awareness with donors and partners.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

• Strong knowledge of Community Development, Health, Social Protection and Economic Development program areas and ability to communicate practices to various constituencies in Rwanda mostly development partners, local government officials and other stakeholders in the country and out of the country.
• Excellent Kinyarwanda and English communication skills.
• Strong writing skills.
• Computer proficiency in MS Office and familiarity with project management software.
• Ability to work independently and to deal with problems and issues both promptly and efficiently.
• Ability to diplomatically liaise in a team setting, to listen and consider team suggestions, and to create a sense of team connectivity.
• Capacity to work under pressure and tight deadlines.
• Good negotiation skills, especially in the context of Rwanda and experienced with cross-cultural communication and work.
• Strong time management, prioritization, and multi-tasking skills.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s Degree International Relations, Communication, Business Administration, Development Studies, Social Sciences, or related subjects, Master’s Degree preferred.
• At least 4 years of demonstrated experience in Relief and Development work in the developing world, preferably in Rwanda.
• At least 3 years of experience in a similar position in development and humanitarian programs.
• Experience working with donors such as USAID, EU, UN Agencies, Foundations, etc.
• Personal Christian Faith and a heart for serving vulnerable people -Committed to Mission, Vision, and Values of World Relief.

 PHYSICAL DEMANDS: 

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to have ordinary ambulatory skills sufficient to visit other locations.
• The ability to stand, walk, stoop, kneel, crouch, and manipulate (lift, carry, move) light to medium weights of 10-15 pounds/4.54-6.81kg.
• Requires good hand-eye coordination, arm, hand and finger dexterity, including ability to grasp, and visual acuity to use a keyboard, operate equipment and read application information.
• The employee frequently is required to sit, reach with hands and arms, talk and hear.

WORK ENVIRONMENT: 

• General office setting.
• Great lengths of time working on computer, reading from computer screen, entering information, standing at a copier or fax machine, and some time on the phone or in Zoom or Teams meetings are required.
• Physical, emotional and intellectual demands.
• Equipment used: Employee computer (desktop or laptop), printer, and copier.
• All of the above duties and responsibilities are essential job functions subject to reasonable accommodation. All job requirements listed indicate the minimum level of knowledge, skills and/or ability deemed necessary to perform the job proficiently. This job description is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities or requirements. Individuals may be required to perform any other job-related instructions as requested by their supervisor, subject to reasonable accommodation. This position description is not all-inclusive and is always under review.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS:

• Behave Ethically:Understand ethical behavior and practices, and ensure that own behavior and the behavior of others are consistent with these standards and aligns with the values of the organization.
• Confidentiality: Ability to maintain confidentiality.
• Build Relationships:Establish and maintain positive working relationships with others, both internally and externally, to achieve the goals of the organization.
• Communicate Effectively:Speak, listen and write in a clear, thorough and timely manner using appropriate and effective communication tools and techniques.
• Creativity/Innovation: Develop new and unique ways to improve quality and operations of the organization and to create new opportunities.
• Foster Teamwork:Work cooperatively and effectively with others to set goals, resolve problems, and make decisions that enhance organizational effectiveness.
• Lead:Positively influence others to achieve results that are in the best interest of the organization.
• Make decisions:Assess situations to determine the importance, urgency and risks, and make clear decisions which are timely and in the best interests of the organization.
• Organize:Set priorities, develop a work schedule, monitor progress towards goals, and track details, data, information and activities.
• Plan:Determine strategies to move the organization forward, set goals, create and implement actions plans, and evaluate the process and results.
• Solve Problems:Assess problem situations to identify causes, gather and process relevant information, generate possible solutions, and make recommendations and/or resolve the problem.
• Ensuring value for money, engage reasonable costs to generate income.
• Ability to work under hardship environment and with minimum supervision.

HOW TO APPLY:

If you are interested and qualified for this position:

• Please submit one PDF documentincludingyour application letter addressed to the Country Director of World Relief Rwanda, copy of your notified Degree, comprehensive Curriculum Vitae with three (3) names of referees, copy of your identity card and a recommendation letter from your Church Pastor or Priest (Not exceeding 6 months), not later than August 20^th, 2024.
• Be a Rwandan by Nationality.
• Applications will be sent to rwandajobs@wr.org 
• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.
• Note that application letter and CV should be signed.

Done at Kigali on August 6^th, 2024.